


Veni, Vidi, Vici

by merlins_sister



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Beginnings, Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-11
Updated: 2012-08-11
Packaged: 2017-11-11 22:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/483337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merlins_sister/pseuds/merlins_sister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The enormity of what travelling with the Doctor may mean hits Donna.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Veni, Vidi, Vici

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: Nods to Partners in Crime and The Fires of Pompeii. Written for the lovely sakuracorr over at LJ.

Donna closed the door on the final wardrobe and stepped back to survey her room. She wasn’t completely certain the cupboard had been there when she had arrived, but it had proved useful. She smiled uncertainly at the thought the Tardis had provided it for her when she run out of storage space. She didn’t know if it made her feel welcome, or whether it was a sign that the Tardis just liked everything neat and tidy. She considered the areas that the Doctor seemed to inhabit and decided she was being made welcome; there was no way that the Tardis would allow them to be that chaotic if she didn’t want them to be.

She sat down on the bed, and took another look around her room. It was spacious, but not overwhelmingly so. Warm, comfortable...she felt at home. Kind of. She felt a surge of homesickness again as she considered all that she had left behind. In all her excitement at finding the Doctor again, and showing her grandfather, she hadn’t stopped to think about the fact that she might miss her home, even with all its problems. And already the thought she might not see it again had flashed through her mind. She thought she knew how dangerous life with the Doctor could be, and he had warned her again before she stepped into the Tardis once more. But she hadn’t really thought about it before they had set off...to wherever the Doctor was transporting them. A surprise he had said. She felt a tight excitement inside her at where they might be going, but she knew there was more than a healthy dose of fear there too.

What the hell had she done?

She should ask the Doctor to take her back. Now. This instant. She wasn’t up to this. She was just...a temp. Nothing more. She wasn’t special, nothing amazing. What made her think she was up to the challenges and miracles she might find on this journey? What gave her the right?

She took a deep breath to calm herself. This must be normal. Travelling with the Doctor didn’t have a guidebook for the new traveller, but his previous companions must have felt the same. What sane person wouldn’t?

She pulled herself up from the bed, stuck her chin out in her most ‘don’t mess with me’ stance, and headed out to the control room. No point in wallowing in her room like a scared little girl. She wanted adventure. She’d got it. Time to make the most of it.

She arrived to find the Doctor running around the console making what looked like last minute adjustments.

“Perfect!” he cried across the noise. “We’re just about to land!” His statement was followed by a lurch in the Tardis, and a crunch as they dematerialised...wherever it was that the Doctor had decided on for their first trip. Donna suddenly decided giving him free rein with the choice had probably been a bad call, his grin manic even for him.

“Where are we?” she asked in what she thought was a calm, seasoned way.

“Come and see,” the Doctor replied, heading towards the door, stopping as he realised she wasn’t following. “You okay?” he asked, his eyes flashing vulnerability beneath the manic tour guide persona he had adopted since setting off, a mask she knew was there to cover the fear that she might change her mind, might ask to go home. She’d done that once already, and she had forgotten her being here was as big a thing for him as her.

She forced her smile to spread. “I’m fine,” she replied firmly. “What have you got for me then, spaceman?”

His grin spread again as he pushed the door open, exclaiming as they stepped out, “Ancient Rome!”

Oh, he was good. 

Donna glanced at him as he took in all that was around him, his excitement at the discoveries as great as her own.

She was in Ancient Rome! Her. Donna Noble!

Her grin spread more naturally and suddenly the homesickness disappeared. What could she tell her granddad about this? Suddenly she needed to know if they spoke Latin, what did the food taste like, did they really have everything she had once read about?

She turned and smiled at the Doctor, her grin saying it all. This was bloody brilliant, and she was going to make the most of it. 

For however long she might have.


End file.
